


Drink Up the Sunrise

by A_Song_to_Say_Goodbye



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: M/M, These Boys are Definitely Evil, These are Kinda Creepy Sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-10 20:28:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5599747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Song_to_Say_Goodbye/pseuds/A_Song_to_Say_Goodbye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Gakushu and Karma are kinda creepy and kinda in love. It's almost cute. For them, at least.<br/>Eight drabbles originally written for Karushuu Week</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shepherd to Restore My Soul

**Author's Note:**

> So I totally cheated and wrote pretty much all of the prompts in one day, because I didn’t think I’d have the free time to do it the normal way. These were originally published on Tumblr according to the proper schedule, but I ended up deciding to put them here with the date I finished them all, Dec 24, as the publishing date. 
> 
> I think they all take place in the same timeline of fics, though they’re not chronological. I’m sorry, I don’t know anything, I just let them ramble on until I found a stopping point. This is the first fic week I’ve tried, and I’m still not used to this style, so I can't guarantee the quality of these. Also, some of them have Japanese suffixes in the dialogue and some of them don’t, and I just don’t know; I went with whatever felt right. A+ to you if you can understand the references in the titles without the help of Google. A++ if you understand all the reasons why I chose them, too 
> 
> Prompt: Karma's Birthday

Most people forget Karma’s birthday. That’s understandable, since it’s Christmas. Even his parents, who witnessed his birth sober and undrugged, forget his birthday sometimes. Them usually being in different time zones doesn’t help. 

Hey, since he was born today too, doesn’t that make him like Baby Jesus? he ponders idly as he wanders around town. Maybe he can start a cult. There’s always a few gullible people around who will buy into that type of thing. He can proclaim that he’s the Second Coming and will end the world once he comes into his powers or something. 

He says as much out loud, leaving out that he shares the birthday of Christ. It’s funny to see the looks people give him, and it’s even funnier when they think he’s a complete loon. 

“Don’t even think about it, Akabane,” says the goody-two-shoes that is public Asano, falling into step beside him with a smile like a razor blade. “What would you even do with a cult?”

Karma shrugs. “It might’ve been interesting. But I know it’s more your territory. Pardon the intrusion,” he says back to Asano with cherubic innocence on his face. Don’t get him wrong, he does plenty of manipulation himself, but he does it by taunting and poking people onto the path he wants. Asano is the one who wraps them around his fingers and makes them think he’s a god so they follow him in blind devotion. They’re very different things, and really, the two of them are very different people.

Asano grimaces faintly, an angry crease in his forehead the only other sign of his irritation. “What are you doing out here, anyways?” asks the oh-so perfect student council president. His voice is carefully unaccusatory. “Isn’t it your birthday?” 

Karma makes a mental note to use “stalker” whenever he describes Asano from now on. The look on his face when he hears of however Class E spins that will be worth well worth the bother. To said stalker, he replies, “Wouldn’t you like to know, A-sah-no?” He sings the name, stretching it to fill as many seconds as he can. He’s rewarded with a faintly homicidal gleam in Asano’s eyes  

“Oh, it’s okay, Akabane. You have your privacy, and I respect that,” Asano answers, oozing false understanding. If he flicked a rock into his eyes, would Asano break his facade? Karma wonders. Asano is so very controlled, even in the tensest of situations. The mask never slips completely, and never for more than a split-second. He wants to see Asano unravel to nothing. He wants to be the one to unravel Asano to nothing.

They walk along in silence for a while, and it’s almost comfortable. “This is where we part ways,” says Asano finally. “Goodbye, Akabane.” 

“Goodbye, A-sah-no. It was so much fun to see you!” Karma sings out, just because he can. 

He stares at Asano’s retreating back. One day, Karma vows. He will tear down Asano’s tower, destroy the pedestal he stands upon until they’re on the same level. Face to face. 

 


	2. I'll Divine Your Artesian Source

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Curiosity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In hindsight, the title sounds kinda lewd, but you know, I’m pretty sure complicated, vaguely intellectual references is how Karma would hit on someone anyways.

There are a lot of curious things about Asano Gakushu. 

For one, is he actually trying to flirt with all those people he tutors, or is that an accidental side effect of turning up the charm? Whatever the case, he’s making another girl blush right now, Karma observes, strolling past their table in the library. “Th-thank you, Asano-kun!” she sputters.

He’s perfectly gentle as he says, “It was no problem.” It’s really boring, Karma thinks, miming a yawn at Asano, whose eyes sharpen and flare at him like a fire once he catches the gesture. 

That’s more like it. Karma wants to see the real Asano, the one who that fiercely proud slant of the eye belongs to. The one who openly calls people like the Five Virtuosos his followers and whips Class A into a frenzy with careful propaganda. Karma’s gathering a string of moments, piecing together his character once all the lies are stripped away. Though really, that he casts the lies over him to begin with is a crucial part of his personality. 

He glances at the worksheet in front of them. Math. “Use the law of cosine,” he says, before the girl can ask Asano for help. How will he react to the intrusion? “Solve for the other angles first and use them to find x.” 

“Akabane is correct,” Asano says. His voice is sadly level, even though Karma knows butting in must’ve annoyed him. Well, now he knows that intrusion alone is not enough to shake the mask. 

Karma walks away humming. He is building up his Asano database little by little. He will expose every secret through careful excavation, and who else will Asano have to blame but himself once his bare self is out in the open? 


	3. Why Your Joyous Strains?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Music

Akabane’s voice is slightly off-key and it doesn’t sound that nice either; it’s kind of grating and breathy in a way that’s obvious even though it isn’t that loud, but he’s singing anyways and dear God, please make it stop. 

“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!” Akabane sings on, the glee in his voice suffusing it with a touch of mania. Trust him to pick a children’s song, of all things, and a creepy one, at that. He’s somehow making it even creepier than it already is. 

No one else understands the lyrics, Gakushu knows. It’s English, and frankly, Japan’s English curriculum is terrible. He can’t imagine why Akabane even chose this; his best subject is math. None of this makes any sense, and he is so fed up with this crap.

“Akabane,” he says with great calm, “could you stop?”

“But why?” Akabane asks, the picture of innocence. “I’m just trying to spread some holiday cheer! Shouldn’t you be supporting my efforts to bring greater cohesion and a shared sense of community to our student body?” 

“Uniting us in a desire to cut your vocal chords doesn’t count, Akabane,” Gakushu answers, smiling. 

“You’re so cruel, Asano,” Akabane says, offhandedly. The tone doesn’t match the sentiment at all. He isn’t even trying, and that is something Gakushu will never understand about him. 

There’s blessed silence for a moment, but then Akabane opens his mouth, and Gakushu cringes, suddenly realizing what will happen. As expected, when Akabane begins singing again, his voice is even louder and hoarser than before. “Oh, you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why . . .”

Kill me now, Gakushu thinks. 

 


	4. Oh, Give Me a Rainbow Coat of Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Winter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the most outright shippy drabble that still remains in the realm of “technically subtext,” and it’s also the one in which Gakushu is the creepiest. There is something very, very wrong with me.

It is perfectly reasonable for him to be wearing a scarf. It is winter. It is cold. There is no reason for him not to wear a scarf, even if it is rainbow-colored and very fluffy, and it makes Akabane beam at him while saying, “Guess even you aren’t immune to the cold, ne, Asano-kun?” with that stupid lilt of laughter in his voice. 

Oh my god, he wants to kill Akabane. 

He’s not even kidding. His fingers itch with the desire to reach out and strangle him, that’s how serious he is. Gakushu just barely manages to restrain himself with reminders that this is in public and he has nowhere to hide the body, so he can’t maintain his perfect reputation if he kills Akabane here. 

“Well, I’m only human, after all,” Gakushu says, smiling back at Akabane. With heroic willpower, he refrains from gritting his teeth. 

“My, my, you are?” He doesn’t even try to feign real-sounding shock. “Better not say that in front of Class A. They’ll be so disillusioned. It’ll be tragic.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure they’ll understand,” Gakushu says. That I’m using this scarf to strangle you and needed an excuse to have it, he adds silently. 

“Aren’t you just adorable?” Akabane says. Then, as if he just had this brilliant idea, he adds casually, “You know, I feel like pinching your cheeks. Here, hold still.”

Gakushu jolts backwards just in time to avoid the swipe of grasping hands. “What the hell?” he demands, his voice a little sharper than he’d like. He wonders, foolishly, what it would’ve felt like had they made contact.

Akabane just smiles at him and hooks an arm around his shoulder. “Don’t be so shy, Asano-kun. You’ll hurt my feelings.”

His neck feels like it’s burning up. It must be the fleecy material of the scarf, Gakushu decides. It’s trapping far too much heat, including some of Akabane’s. He needs to look for a new scarf and save this one for blizzards. 

Or maybe it’s the weather. Maybe Akabane’s right (for once), and it is too warm for a scarf. After all, it’s what, 8 degrees C? That’s not too bad. 

The fact that he can’t look Akabane in the eye is a complete and utter coincidence. 

 


	5. Dancing Slowly in an Empty Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Loneliness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is chronologically the earliest, I guess?

It’s lonely being a genius, Karma thinks. It’s something that separates you from your peers, a soft fog that drifts in between so slowly that they don’t even notice. But he’s noticed. Children’s games aren’t so much fun when you’re not in that child state of mind, trying to understand the ways the world works. 

Adults have always infantilized him, oohing and aahing platitudes meant to appease him so he wouldn’t try to climb so high. That’s so good, Karma-kun, excellent work, Karma-kun. But even though they acknowledge his intellect, they refuse to acknowledge that his mind is older than his body. I don’t think you’re old enough for this. How about waiting a few more years, okay? they say, or, Go play with the other kids, Karma-kun. But the whole point is that he’s so far ahead of them that he doesn’t really understand them. The whole childhood thing feels alien to him. 

So he directs all his intelligence towards tricks and fights, because he doesn’t need companions to pull pranks, and there’s always someone stupid enough to fight him, even knowing his brain can dance circles around theirs. He lets the laughter and adrenaline fill the emptiness 

Things change a little when he gets to middle school. He meets Shiota Nagisa, a boy who’s even more of an outsider, who has something lurking underneath that’s far creepier than Karma’s uncanny intelligence. It’s gratifying and unnerving all at once. He still likes to count Nagisa as a friend because he can’t afford to be choosy, so that’s one advantage of growing up, he supposes. 

The only one who gives him a real run for his money in exams is Asano Gakushu, the chairman’s son. Karma’s opinion of him swings back and forth like a pendulum. At first, he thought he might be interesting, someone like him, but then whenever he saw Asano, he was smiling and dutiful and picture-perfect. He must’ve let his father mold him into someone with so much knowledge that it resembles intelligence, Karma concluded. 

That is, until he sees how Asano Senior and Junior really interact. 

Asano seems to be his normal servile self at first, but in his staring at his father, Karma can sense something coming to life in him. The chairman issues his instructions, and Karma sees the sudden spark in Asano’s eyes that lights them with fire and purpose. He wonders if Asano understands the need for an equal. 

He wonders if Asano could end his loneliness. 

 


	6. Where He was Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Pride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This spoils the result of the first semester finals, but this is a pretty famous moment anyways. I’m not even sure if it counts as a spoiler anymore.

It isn’t until he loses that Karma realizes he has pride.

Everything’s come so easily to him that he’s been spoiled. He was the carefree golden boy, too busy sailing along on the winds of his triumph to realize that he is fragile as Humpty Dumpty. Well, now he has had his great fall, and Asano Gakushu is the one who pushed him off. 

He will never be the same again.

This child has learned his lesson from the rhyme. He will never take his intelligence for granted again. And he might as well use it. It’s caused him so much suffering that he had better be able to get something out of being some kind of genius. 

Formulae are already running through his head, spinning lazily in front of him, ready to be put to use. As soon as he gets home, Karma will take out his books and study until his weary eyes are half-blind from the light. He’ll prove himself next time.

Asano will never be able to smirk at him, heady with victory, ever again. He is going down, and Karma will be the one to do it.


	7. Words Fall Through Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Kiss

It’s more of an accident than anything. They’re arguing about something stupid in their roundabout way, and Akabane is smirking at him like he always does, so Gakushu grabs him by the collar of his shirt and kisses him to wipe that expression off his face.

He was mostly reacting on impulse, but Gakushu doesn’t regret it, surprisingly, even when Akabane pushes him into the wall and kisses him back. It’s kind of nice, really, he thinks, half-dazed. Much nicer than Akabane’s singing voice, at least.

His hair is kind of nice too, Gakushu thinks ridiculously, when his hand somehow winds its way up to rest at the nape of Akabane’s neck. It’s a pretty color, rather soft, and tickles a little, which makes his arm feel absurdly pleased for something so minor, and speaking of the stupid limb, why does it have a mind of its own anyways? He contemplates for half a second before rejecting the outlandish theory that his arm is possessed.

Both of them seem quite happy to stay like this, so they don’t move from the spot until they hear a loud sniff. Startled, Gakushu tilts his head to the side to see . . . a really strange-looking man with yellow skin, very small eyes, and weirdly long, blobby arms? “Oh, Karma-kun, I’m so proud,” he sobs, dabbing at his eyes with a tissue. Dear God, why are his arms so thin when his body is so round?

“Koro-sensei,” Karma sighs over his shoulder, and Gakushu does a double-take.  _ This _ is Class E’s infamous new teacher? Maybe his father’s secret is that he hired someone with jaundice.

_ Really _ bad jaundice. Hopefully it’s from something non-contagious and sorta non-fatal, like biliary atresia, because if he died, Karma would probably be sad, and wait, why does he care about that?

“I can’t help it. I’m just so thrilled,” Koro-sensei declares. He shows no signs of stopping his outpour of tears anytime soon. “I’m sure you two will be very happy together.” He reaches out for a hug, so Karma steps away in response, which also takes him one step closer to Gakushu. 

Since they’re still in some sort of half-embrace—Gakushu still has an arm wrapped loosely over Karma’s neck, and Karma’s right hand rests on his shoulder—this one step brings him so close that their faces are practically pressed together. Karma’s golden eyes are terrifyingly intense when they’re so near. They’re a little like cat’s eyes, and Gakushu wouldn’t put it past him to be able to see in the dark. They make it hard to breathe, those eyes. They’re so bright. 

Hold on. When did he start calling him Karma in his head?

Karma smiles faintly, which does something entirely different to his face than the usual smirk. Gakushu’s thoughts are getting all scrambled up in his head, does he know that? “Koro-sensei, go away,” Karma calls back, and kisses Gakushu again. 

Gakushu promptly decides he doesn’t actually give a damn. 

  
  



	8. Counted Lost for Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Gakushu's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has a spoiler for the second semester finals. I don’t even know if those would’ve happened by Gakushu’s birthday, but then, I still don’t understand Japan’s academic system. They start the year in spring, I think, so if there’s two semesters, second semester finals actually would take place sometime in winter, right? But it’d probably be closer to mid-term in January . . . oh, god, just screw it. 
> 
> This takes place after Words Fall Through Me. I think? Probably?

Karma figures turnabout is fairplay, and since Asano crashed his birthday, he crashes his.

To be fair, he brings cake. 

“What,” Asano says when he opens the door, and his voice is completely flat. He sounds dead inside. It’s glorious.

“Surprise!” he sings out, maneuvering his way past the half-open door with judicious use of his foot. Asano looks too numb to really resist. Shame. He likes Asano best when he’s giving him a hard time.  

Once he’s inside, Karma looks for a kitchen so he can put down the cake. It’s homemade and everything; it would be such a shame if it went to waste. Asano trails after him, looking very disgruntled.“You are very lucky that the Chairman isn’t home,” he mutters.

Karma takes that as either a surrender or concession of defeat. He flashes a smile at him. “But isn’t he obligated to love me? I’m his beloved number one student, after all.”

“Three points,” Asano growls. “It was literally three points and one damn question. Not even one question, actually, since I received partial credit. Stop  _ gloating. _ ”

There we go, Karma thinks with great satisfaction. There’s the real Asano. He was lying  before; it’s the competitive, aggressive Asano that’s adorable, not the falsely modest one. It makes Karma want to tweak his nose and coo over him. 

“Gakushu,” Asano says suddenly, leaning over his shoulder.

“No, that’s you. I’m Karma, remember?” he says lightly, setting the cake down on the table.

Asano lets out a snort. “No, the cake,” he explains, pointing at the carefully iced kanji that spell out his surname. Karma added some smiley faces and emojis for fun. “It says Asano.”

Karma cocks his head inquisitively and waits for him to reveal all. 

Asano’s face wrinkles in distaste. “That’s what my father calls me. And that’s his name, too. Call me Gakushu already.”

Oh, that’s it? Karma hums agreeably. “Whatever you say, Gakushu.”

“Oh, you —” he huffs in irritation, then shakes his head and turns away. “Let’s just get this over with. Get plates. They’re in the top left cupboard.” 

Karma follows his instructions obediently while Gakushu lays out forks and a cutting knife, slapping Karma’s hand away when he reaches for the latter. “No. I don’t trust you with a knife.”

“Spoilsport,” Karma says affectionately.

He might be biased, but Karma doesn’t think the cake turned out that badly. It tastes about the same as a bought cake. The face Gakushu makes seems to indicate he finds it too sweet, but oh well. You can’t please everyone.  

Regardless of its taste, even two teenage boys can’t finish a whole cake by themselves. “I’m giving the leftovers to my father,” Gakushu mutters, pushing his plate away after the second slice.

“Want me to poison it?” Karma offers. “I’ll ask Okuda for something.”

“ _ No _ ,” Gakushu hisses fiercely, with that hint of filial affection that makes Karma grin to hear it. It’s kinda twisted, but it’s also kinda refreshing to see their surprisingly strong bond, considering how rarely Karma sees his parents.

“You’re horrible,” says Gakushu, seeing his grin.

“You’re the same as me,” retorts Karma. “We’re two sides of a coin, aren’t we?”

Gakushu says something beneath his breath. It sounds sort of like, “I guess.”

He’ll count that as a victory. 

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my God, these boys are sociopaths.


End file.
